Sony DEV-5 Digital Recording Binoculars

Sony DEV-5 Digtal Recording Binoculars are the pinnacle of a technology that first made its appearance not long after cameras made their appearance as companies like Eastman and Kodak not only developed the films needed for portability, but also realized that by adding a second lens they could create 3D images.

Granted, the images of the early stereopticon cameras centered on film and paper technology, plus special viewers, but when you purchased the system, you actually could have 3D photographs. This was big among families beginning about 1870s as camera prices dropped. Sony has taken 3D viewing to a whole new level with its DEV-5 Digital Recording Binoculars.

Imagine taking a birding field trip to see a rare yellow-bellied sapsucker in a marshy area near your home. You take the DEV-5s, put them around your neck and your are off to the blind set up by your friends when you can see not only Mr. and Mrs. Sapsucker and family, but also many other rare birds in 3D. That's right, the DEV-5 is a 2D/3D set of binoculars that allows you not only to look at the area in "normal" viewing mode - which is always 3D since the two lenses of the binoculars are just are enough apart - 31 mm - so that your normal viewpoint is 3D. You can switch it to 2D, but you have to press a switch and the DEV-5 is locked into 2D mode.

The DEV-5 digital binoculars take the old tradition of using a stereopticon to new heights. You probably have seen photos in old family albums (if you don't still have the real device itself and cartes d'visit - postal cards that doubled as 3D displays) where family members are staring into this weird-looking device at images. Well, they were actually seeing 3D images of whatever they were looking at. The DEV-5 does this all electronically as it has duel EXMor R image processors, one for each lens and dual lenses that are the correct distance apart to view 3D imagery without the need for active or passive glasses.

The EXMor R imaging processing sensors are uniquely placed so they gather as much light as possible. The sensors are placed above the other rest of the circuitry so that they receive as much light as possible without having other circuit board in the way.

It is quite a sensitive device, that also features dual-track Dolby recording capability (something you don't find in most of your standard binoculars). Its ability to work in low light is amazing and the quality of the video it delivers is very good.

The DEV-5 has a standard focal length of 34 mm and uses a 20X hardware/software video display which means that this device effective becomes a 340 mm zoom camera with good low-light reactions. The video it shoots is in native high-definition (1920 by 1080) mode. It can handle up to 32 GB of